Printers capable of printing on record media of various thicknesses, such as single sheets, multisheet forms, passbooks, etc., are widely used in various types of business machines, such as financial and retail terminals, for example. In such printers, it is advantageous to be able to increase the gap or throat between the platen and the printing elements in order to facilitate insertion of record media therebetween. This can be done, for example, by means of energization of a solenoid to separate the platen from the printing elements by moving one or the other. However, if the solenoid must be maintained in an energized condition during the time that the platen and the printing elements remain spaced apart, excessive power consumption and wear of the solenoid may result.